Sermon Tone Analysis

Norman Maclean once wrote, “The nearest anyone can come to finding himself at any given age is to find a story that somehow tells him about himself.”

A couple of weeks ago, we began for the very first time a brand new series only for the 5pm called “What It Again” based entirely upon the most popular and most influential Netflix series among youth and young adults.

We began with 2 weeks on the Netflix phenomenon, 13 Reasons Why, which garnered more than 100 million viewers based on the premise of a teenage girl who committed suicide and left behind cassette tapes implicating her peers on 13 reasons why she ended her life.

If you missed the prior two messages from the 5pm, then let me encourage you to download the Christ Journey App from any app store on your mobile device, open it, click on the Messages tab, and then click on the message that you missed.

Stories help us find ourselves - they help us rethink our worldview, resolve conflict, develop empathy - and stories can help us do this at any given age and stage of life.

As of the last 5 years with the debut of House of Cards in 2013, the most popular and influential stories shaping our lives as individuals and our society as a whole have been hosted by Netflix.

The viewership between Netflix and other streaming services, such as YouTube, versus cable is increasing dramatically, especially among older adults.

92% of teenagers and 87% of young adults have access to a Netflix membership, while in the last two years, streaming memberships among adults in their 40s and 50s has increased by 20%.

Overall, the way our society consumes stories is changing, which beckons the church to ask the question over and again: How does the Good News of Jesus Christ intersect with the popular stories of our culture?This series is designed to help you do just that, as we apply this question to the most popular visual novels of our day.

We’re calling this series “Watch It Again,” because after we discuss these shows, I want to encourage all of you to watch these shows again - or for the first time - but this time, with the mind of Christ.

For we believe that all truth is God’s truth, but not all truth is saving truth, so how may we as a church not respond with fear to these stories, especially those that raise up difficult or even taboo issues, but instead, how might we engage these stories and help others identify their truth into God’s truth about us?

We’re here at the 5pm so that our church can Help young adults and young families live for God’s Kingdom.

Because "Today is a day of Good News” 2 Kings 7:9, and we must share it with everyone.

Today, we will be asking this question of the series, Bloodline, next week will be Stranger Things, and then the final week, our good friend, Andrew Ling, will discuss Lost in Space.

Last week, after the 5pm ended, a friend of mine, observed that each one of the shows featured in this series are dark expressions of our broken, human condition, and I agreed.

I don’t recommend these shows lightly; in fact, I don’t recommend Bloodline for those struggling with family of origin issues and depression.

Your health and well-being matters more than a TV show.

The most popular stories right now plunge us into dark places, and hundreds of millions of us identify with those dark places.

Why?

I think because most people can identify with the grim, broken reality posed by these shows.

Most of us can’t identify with Superman or with characters who represent pure goodness, but I think many of us can identify with anti-heroes, such as Peter Quill or Clay Jensen or this week’s character, John Rayburn.

These characters are the protagonist, the leading characters.

They’re trying to resolve a conflict or reconcile something broken, but they are doing so as broken pieces, themselves, complicated and conflicted.

That sounds more like us.

The advent of the anti-hero arose as a prominent figure in story at the turn of the 2000s, and has only continued to dominate story because everybody can identify with the anti-hero.

These shows, including Bloodline, are dark shows, no doubt about it.

And though they are extreme and push the bounds more than what most people probably do during their lifetime, I think most of us can identify with the core issues and conflicts with which the characters in these stories deal.

All of us fall short, feel broken and imperfect.

There, in those places, at the broken pieces, Jesus meets us and desires to make us whole.

God didn’t forsake us to live amidst our broken pieces alone left to figure how to fix it.

And while some believe that God is the culprit for our broken pieces; in fact, God demonstrated the opposite through the work of Jesus on the cross.

God intends to restore every broken piece... ever broken.

“Bloodline” shows us how our good intentions can still break pieces.

If you haven’t seen this show, then take a look at this preview:

SHOW PREVIEW -

The premise of the series chronicles the dysfunction, and the ultimate demise, of the Rayburn family, when the oldest son, Danny Rayburn, returns home for the 45th anniversary of his parents’ Islamorada hotel.

Leaving his past behind in Miami - of all places - he returns home for a fresh start, assuring his family, his two parents and three younger siblings, that he gave up his former criminal ways.

He wants to come home, help with the hotel and reconcile his family debts.

In a conversation with his younger brother, John, the second oldest of the family and the next in line to lead the family after his Father passes, Danny asks for John’s permission to come home.

So, John speaks with his father, who doesn’t believe his oldest son has changed his ways.

But he believes in his other 3 children, so he leaves the decision in their hands to receive Danny home.

That evening, they discuss how to decide what to do.

Take a look…

PLAY SCENE 1

John and Meg believe that Danny can change, and so does his mother, who always shows empathy for Danny, even believing in Danny when no one else would.

Kevin and his father, on the other hand, don’t believe any good can come from Danny’s return.

He is who he is.

As Kevin said, “People can change, but not him.”

Stuck in the middle is John.

Now, at the exact same time this conversation is taking place between the siblings, their brother, Danny, is neck deep in a drug binger with his childhood friend, Eric O’Bannon, who is bashing the Rayburn family and trying to convince Danny to leave them and join his criminal enterprise for some easy cash.

What a juxtaposition.

Can Danny change?

Some think not, and they may be right.

Meanwhile, back on the ranch, John sticks his neck out for Danny.

Take a look…

PLAY SCENE 2

"You don’t give up on family,” John says, which ironically, becomes a statement that never comes true for the Rayburn family, even as they all seemingly fight for one another.

“You don’t give up on family,” but in the end, all of them do.

The next morning, after Danny’s binger, he wakes up on their family pier, nude, hungover, and ashamed in front of all of his family’s guests.

His mother’s ashamed.

His father’s ashamed.

His brother and sister are ashamed.

And John’s ashamed.

John's inner-conflict is palpable.

It’s like a train wreck in slow motion.

John just can’t let Danny go for reasons we come to discover later in the series.

John feels indebted to Danny.

But more than indebtedness, John loves Danny.

They’re brothers.

Yet, thinking as a Detective, John realizes that his brother, Kevin, is right.

Some people can change, but not Danny.

And so the question then becomes, how should brotherly love respond?

The decision to welcome Danny home is essentially John’s.

Does brotherly love keep no records of wrong and welcome home the prodigal son, or does brotherly love speak truth and find help?

Or, is there another way?

Take a look at how John responds…

PLAY SCENE 3

John does neither.

Instead, John lies.

He neither welcomes Danny home, nor offers the truth to Danny about how his destructive behavior creates tension and destruction among his family and others.

Instead, John chose Door number 3, blame-shifted to his father, and took the easy way out with Danny.

John did wrong, but I feel for him.

I even feel for Danny because these guys represent all of us.

This show is dark and complicated, but it’s us, right?

Can we get honest for a moment?

I think all of us have stood in John’s position and lied to find an easy way out of a difficult circumstance, haven’t we?

I think all of us have stood in Danny’s position and felt ashamed for our behavior.

All of us have fallen short and taken the easy way out, all of us have felt ashamed, including one of the leading men in the history of the Old Testament, a man named David.

According to the history about this man, he was a tall, dark, and handsome warrior, who courageously battled, expressed his heart through poetry and song, and humbly served under his God and his King named Saul.

After one of the many battles that David fought alongside of King Saul, a chorus of women crowded in the streets to greet King Saul, and sang, “Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” 1 Samuel 18:7.

Well, as you might imagine, that particular song didn’t sit too well with King Saul.

He got jealous of David and soon started a plot to rid David from any women ever giving him praise again, a plot to kill David.

Yet, always with integrity and full of character, David tried to remain with King Saul, even knowing how King Saul felt about David and what King Saul wanted to do to him.

Eventually, however, David fled from King Saul without any kind of food or protection to save his own life.

On the run, David formulated a plan to get what he needed to escape King Saul.

He decided to visit one of the leading priests of Israel at that time named Ahimelech, who could provide him with food and a weapon.

Yet, listen carefully for how David explains why he needs these items:

“The king has sent me on a private matter,” David said.

“He told me not to tell anyone why I am here.

I have told my men where to meet me later.